![]() From Pauline Eichten, Beloved Community Staff Team One of our new Ends states that “we the people of Unity Church-Unitarian will create a multicultural spiritual home built on authentic relationships.” I see three significant words in that statement -- multicultural, spiritual, and authentic. How we define each of them may vary, so how do we get to the “we the people” part of this? Actually, the “we” is also significant. This is a journey we’re taking together, as a community, living into how we might create such a home. I have no answers, only questions. Lately, I’ve been pondering the word multicultural -- how would I define it? Have I ever experienced it? How do I know it if I see it? I think of the time I spent in France, studying the language at a school for foreigners. The students came from all over the world -- South and Central America, North America, Scandinavia, West and East Europe, Africa, and Asia. The culture, language and life experiences were different, yet we managed to communicate using our varying expertise with French or English, the two languages most in common. The key was being curious about differences and nimble at adapting. I learned how to navigate French cultural norms, sometimes the hard way. I remember the day I was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for a friend, and an elderly Frenchman walked by. As is my custom when at home in Minnesota, I greeted him with a “Bonjour monsieur.” He stopped, looked at me, and then leaned in to stare. I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong, or whether he was a little crazy -- he did look at me in a scary way. Without sufficient language to apologize and explain myself, I looked away until he walked on. I later learned that to smile and greet someone you don’t know isn’t usually done in France. (Or at least it wasn’t then. Things may have changed.) I expect he was trying to determine if he knew me. I was acting on my belief that the polite thing is to greet people on the street. I was tripped up by my lack of knowledge about French cultural norms. KP Hong says being multicultural is about more than race -- it’s all the values and interpretations that lie beneath the behavior we see -- the cultural iceberg. This model says that our behaviors are shaped by our core values of right and wrong and how we interpret those values. We see someone’s behavior, but we don’t know the life experiences and values that underlie it -- those are the hidden depths of the cultural iceberg. Developing authentic relationships is one way to begin to know and understand another’s way of seeing the world and to share our own. Who knows what will come of that?
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Saturday, November 3 • 9:00 a.m.-Noon • Robbins Parlor Dr. Michael Cowan returns for another deep conversation about America’s original sin. Michael Cowan is a professor at Loyola University New Orleans, and a fellow in the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict in the University of Oxford and the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College Dublin. A leader in interracial and interfaith community organizing in New Orleans since 1990, he initiated an issue-based interracial effort to rebuild New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A provocative and thoughtful speaker, Michael Cowan has helped to welcome and guide our congregation's efforts in New Orleans. BLACKkKLANSMAN is rated R. CLICK HERE to watch the official trailer.
From Erika Sanders,
Beloved Community Staff Team In order to fulfill one of Unity’s new Ends Statements, to “Create a multicultural spiritual home built on authentic relationships,” the church has engaged outside help! We’re delighted to be working with Team Dynamics, a firm of consultants guiding us through processes of deep discernment and groundbreaking work. First, Team Dynamics is working with church congregants and staff to investigate our current culture, including potential points of bias, resistance to change, and exclusivity. Team Dynamics created an inventory of our policies, communications, and other information about us, in order to assess our day-to-day patterns of awareness and behaviors. Next, Unity Church and Team Dynamics will work together to co-design a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Roadmap in support of our End Statements. Why diversity, equity and inclusion, you ask? The three key components shaping the roadmap are distinct and work in concert: Diversity – a fact of human difference, not an outcome Equity – recognition that one-size-fits-all solutions do not work for everybody Inclusion – different people get to contribute and make decisions in ways that may change systems Creating the DEI Roadmap involves defining our vision for the future; clarifying our values; determining shared, measurable goals centered on bridging across “differences that make a difference” (such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, and more); and engaging a greater diversity of perspectives. In Team Dynamic’s words, the DEI Roadmap will help us “slow down and really consider the difference between what we know, what we think we know, and where we are just guessing.” The Roadmap will work in concert with the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Unity has used the IDI developmental model in recent years to expand our ability to understand and work across cultural difference. The IDI model offers practical guidance on how organizations and individuals can improve their intercultural competence, and grow along a continuum. Finally, Team Dynamics will support Unity in building its capacity to reach its goals, and will give us guided opportunities to try out new practices and reflect on what we are learning. These opportunities will include retreats, learning seminars, and practice sessions. Unity’s Beloved Community Staff Team will work to ensure that these opportunities for growth are integrated into all areas of church ministry — for example, in worship, community outreach, welcome teams, religious education, and communications. Questions about this exciting work? Contact Rev. KP Hong, Director of Religious Education, at [email protected]. |
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Beloved Community ResourcesUnity Justice Database
Team Dynamics House of Intersectionality Anti-Racism Resources in the Unity Libraries Collection Creative Writers of Color in Unity Libraries The History of Race Relations and Unity Church, 1850-2005 Archives
June 2024
Beloved Community Staff TeamThe Beloved Community Staff Team (BCST) strengthens and coordinates Unity’s antiracism and multicultural work, and provides opportunities for congregants and the church to grow into greater intercultural competency. We help the congregation ground itself in the understanding of antiracism and multiculturalism as a core part of faith formation. We support Unity’s efforts to expand our collective capacity to imagine and build the Beloved Community. Here, we share the stories of this journey — the struggles, the questions, and the collaborations — both at Unity and in the wider world.
The current members of the Beloved Community Staff Team include Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, Rev. KP Hong, Rev. Lara Cowtan, Drew Danielson, Laura Park, Lia Rivamonte and Angela Wilcox. |